A Jung-ian Thing

by John Fontana on Mar 25, 2009 11:56 AM EDT

Most of the province of Alberta (if not the entire country of Canada) has expected the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League to earn an easy 1st round sweep of the Edmonton Oil Kings in the best-of-seven series in the CHL playoffs. They are, after all, the No. 1 seed and the most dominant team in Canadian junior hockey this season.

And as it stands right now, they are up 3-0 against the Oil Kings and look to close out the series tonight in Edmonton... That is, if they can outlast goalie Torrie Jung one more time.

Jung, the Lightning's 7th round pick in 2007, has been a force all unto himself during this playoff series: He's faced 37, 56 and 45 shots in games one, two and three respectively and chalked up 32, 54 and 41 saves in those efforts.

The Calgary Herald compared the Hitmen's relentless assault on Jung to French peasants, storming the Bastille in July of 1789. The story goes on to say:

But it didn't seem fair or just, somehow, when Car-son McMillan nimbly deflected a Paul Postma shot down, the puck skipping off the ice and ricocheting past the screened, startled goaltender at 8:04 of overtime.

In fact, it seemed downright cruel.

Jung himself was owed a far happier fate.

Knowing how bitter the rivalry between Calgary and Edmonton is in general and not just hockey, I'd never expect that kind of praise heeped on The Enemy after an overtime win. But Torrie Jung proved to be the exception to the rule after his show-stopping effort in game two.

The same type of praise is lumped on him in the Calgary Sun as well, witht he paper pubicly lamenting the fact that Jung had already been drafted by an NHL team.

Of course, a player's stats do not start with the playoffs. Jung played in 48 games this season and notched a 2.56 Goals Against Average with .915 save percentage. His 20-20 record reflects the record of a team that just inched into the playoffs. And while the Western Hockey League is no NHL, his GAA/Save Percentage puts him in statistical territory comparable to the Bolts injured starter, Mike Smith.

Riku Helenius is supposed to be the next big thing with the Bolts - the netminder of the future and a top draft pick (2006) while Karri Ramo and Mike McKenna hold down the fort in Tampa at current, serving admirably in the wake of the Lightning's injury pleagued season. With Smith, Helenius, Ramo and McKenna rounded out by the emergence of Jung, a pleasant complication in netminding for the Lightning may be brewing for next season and beyond.

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The Lightning have another netminder in the system and playing in the WHL to boot as well: Dustin Tokarski. Dustin plays for Spokane of the WHL and was in net during the World Junior Championships in Ottawa this season.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=261341 — article on his signing with the Bolts
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=96701 — Hockey DB stats

The Raw Charge -- the Tampa Bay Lightning weblog at SB Nation.

by John Fontana on Mar 25, 2009 3:22 PM EDT reply actions

Jung has played ridiculously well in this series so far… he single handedly killed off a six minute stretch where Edmonton was short handed, three minutes of that while two men down, early in the first period of game 2.

He’s also the guy that the Oil Kings credit with getting them into the playoffs in the first place. Edmonton’s fortunes began to rise when he became the starter early in the year.

That said, his season is extremely likely to end tonight, as no matter how well he has played, the Oil Kings simply don’t have the firepower to match Calgary. As a Hitmen fan, I’d rather he didn’t make another remarkable last stand.

by Resolute on Mar 25, 2009 3:36 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Jung faced another 43 shots tonight, but gave up 4 as the Oil Kings were swept out of the playoffs. Still, he once again kept his team in it, turning aside 14 shots in the first. One can only imagine the run he might have had if he wasn’t pretty much his entire team this series.

by Resolute on Mar 25, 2009 11:44 PM EDT reply actions

Reminds me a bit of 2001-02

I don’t want to compare Jung to anyone directly because I have never seen him play… But as what you’re describing goes, it reminds me a lot of what Nikolai Khabibulin did for the Bolts in 2001-02. The Lightning were still a rag tag bunch and the Bulin Wall single handedly kept them in games where they should have been blown out…

Of course, Nik in the playoffs is another story (2002-03 and Tortorella vs. Khabibulin) but he did what he had to in the 2003-04 playoff series (if not playing all worldly, it was just making stops he had to make).

But that’s that and not the story of Jung (who may be back with the Oil Kings next season)

The Raw Charge -- the Tampa Bay Lightning weblog at SB Nation.

by John Fontana on Mar 26, 2009 11:19 AM EDT up reply actions